Expectations for 2012

Posted 03 March 2012 - 10:39 PM

HarlemKnight

Player/Manager

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2,371 posts

Location:Somewhere in Harlem

Supports:NY Red Bulls, US National Team

I know this has been brought up countless of times, but now that pre-season has come and gone, we’ve seen all of the trialists and starters do their thing, but really, how do you see this team's chances when it’s all said and done in 2012? Based on the current roster, do they have a realistic chance of:

a.) Making the playoffs albeit barely like last year
b.) Finishing just above or below .500 and not making the playoffs at all
c.) Winning the East
d.) Winning either the Supporter’s Shield, MLS Cup or US Open Cup or perhaps all three

Okay, maybe that last one is a bit farfetched.

Also, if this is going to be a good season or not, what would be some of the things you will be looking out for (or expecting)? I know that’s a tough question to answer, but on this particular subject, I would like to hear your thoughts.

I know we have made some improvements with the bench and defense but, to be honest I’m not really expecting very much with this crew. There are still some glaring holes on the roster that need to be addressed. And with a tough schedule very early on, I'm very concerned that we'll wind up in a deep hole that we’ll be spending the whole season digging out of.

Posted 03 March 2012 - 11:09 PM

jamison

Dir. of Football Operations

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5,164 posts

Supports:New York

We have enough talent to win the east. I have a feeling we somehow won't, but, this salary is like $ 15m (could be $ 20m with a 3rd DP?), anything less than that when you are competing against no teams north of -what, $ 5m?- is kind of ridiculous. I think LA is the only team north of $ 10m besides us. Finishing 3rd behind KC or HOU is possible, but, I expect more from us than that.

That aside, I expect us to finish second in the East, and to make the conference finals. From there, it's a bit of a crap shoot as to individual games in the playoffs going our way, but, we shouldn't expect less than that from a team with so much talent, and a 3rd DP on the way.

This season to me is about 3 pretty large, but manageable, IFs:

1. If Conde is healthy, our defense should be greatly improved
2. If Henry stays healthy, I expect the same 14 or more goals from him
3. If Marquez can be Good Marquez, and not a disaster, our midfield & defense should be a lot better

And, that all assumes we get Luke Rodgers back. We lose 1 or 2 we're fucked. We can take # 3 at 50/50, anything south of that we're fucked.

Posted 03 March 2012 - 11:32 PM

We winnin the Shield, the cup AND the USOC. No doubt. And if we schedule some meaningless mid-summer friendly tourney, we win that, too.

No reason to think everyone won't be better after another year together. We've all banged on about how important continuity is in this league, and now we have some. This is the most continuity we've had in a long time. Cooper adds experienced depth up top, and pre-season shows him in good form. Palsson and Lade make us better. The big swede with Conde would seem to make us as good or better in defense - with some solid depth behind them (if Keel doesn't take a starting spot outright). And there is reason for optimism in goal. Backe can't complain about a lack of options off the bench.

Everyone know's Rafa's the wild card, but assuming his pride gets his head out of his ass, and he does what he can do with distribution from the middle third, I can't understand people thinking we aren't a significantly better team than we were last year.

"Everybody has a plan until they get punched in the mouth." - Iron Mike

Posted 03 March 2012 - 11:46 PM

jroke

Reserve Team

Member

349 posts

Supports:anyone BUT redbull

a.) Making the playoffs albeit barely like last yearb.) Finishing just above or below .500 and not making the playoffs at allc.) Winning the Eastd.) Winning either the Supporter’s Shield, MLS Cup or US Open Cup or perhaps all three

Posted 04 March 2012 - 12:38 AM

Telegraphed

Reserve Team

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319 posts

Slow start, Marquez sold in the summer window. Get a CAM from Europe in the summer, he gets injured in practice (but man did he look good practicing before he picked up his nick). Dane Richards starts 10 games as a forward over the course of the year, scores 1 goal. Agudelo averages 3 minutes a game. Kenny Cooper makes the crowd cheer whenever Ballouchy comes in to replace him.

Posted 04 March 2012 - 12:47 AM

in_the_lou

New Signing

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23 posts

Location:The Hills

Supports:NYRB, Sunderland

e.) without a 10 , same shit different year.

I prefer the attempt to be funney posts over the attempts to be rational posts, but I would love to read the reasons behind this complaint. Aint attacking this guy, its a pretty pervaisive idea, I just dont get it. We score lots of goals (for mls standards), we have a pretty good attacking midfielder (for mls standards) playing out left, outside right we have speed, we have thierry fucking henry, we do not need a number 10.

Last year we didn't have depth, at all. seriously. At forward maybe, but box to box midfielders and defenders? We needed experience at centerback, depth at full back and depth at center mid. Would loved to have kept dero, he is a number 10, and another exotic international with the loss of sutton, but we dont fucking need him because we dont need a fucking number 10, we needed depth and quality allong the spine and we got that this offseason with cap space to spare.

f) diffrent shit, we win something.

forgot about conde health stuff, damn, kinda leaning with elf. There is always some cloud over our preseason i supose.

Posted 04 March 2012 - 09:48 AM

Jeremy Thunder

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3,216 posts

Location:Brooklyn

Supports:Metro

Slow start, Marquez sold in the summer window. Get a CAM from Europe in the summer, he gets injured in practice (but man did he look good practicing before he picked up his nick). Dane Richards starts 10 games as a forward over the course of the year, scores 1 goal. Agudelo averages 3 minutes a game. Kenny Cooper makes the crowd cheer whenever Ballouchy comes in to replace him.

Posted 04 March 2012 - 10:08 AM

NittanyMetros

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4,303 posts

Supports:Metro

I think we can win the east. We'll score goals, we'll probably look really good in a few games too. Outside of KC the east looks pretty weak once again...especially our main rivals (DC, NE, to a lesser extent the Union even though they're not a true rival yet). Thankfully we play eastern teams 3 times this year, because I think this team will get exposed by the better teams in the west...the RSL's and LA's of the world in particular.

I'm concerned about Conde's health, I'm concerned about Luke not being here (namely because we need 4 legitimate strikers on the roster with Agudelo missing half of the year with the Olympics squad) and I hope we can have a solid summer signing. If we can get Stephen Ireland, I'll have a legitimate expectation to make the final. I'm not holding my breath with Rafa, I don't think he'll ever be the player we thought we were getting.

My expectations are to make the playoffs by the skin of our teeth and crash out before the conference final once again.